China Sea showdown: US must step up to face off with China

Beijing is prepared to reject the decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration. What is America going to do about it?

(From The National Interest)

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The United States faces a major challenge in Asia’s South China Sea. The UN’s Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) announced that they will hand down a decision on July 12 concerning a 2013 suit brought by the Philippines against China under the provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Alarmed by China’s repeated territorial claims, massive land reclamation projects built upon coral mined from the seabed, mineral exploitation surveys and aggressive assertion of fishing rights regardless of Exclusive Economic Zone delineations, the Philippines seeks a judgment from the ultimate multinational authority.

This court is expected to determine the legal basis — or lack thereof — for China’s expansive territorial claims of indisputable historical sovereignty over 85% of the South China Sea enclosed within their ambiguous “nine-dash line.” Read More